Tuesday, December 31, 2013

On December 2-4 in Bangkok, Thailand, there was a UNESCO Global Forum on Media and Gender. One of the strands was titled Media and Information Literacy, although it seems like the focus was on media literacy, not information literacy. The sessions that made up the strand were: - Use access to information provisions to report on gender equality and women’s human rights issues: Some experiences; - Girls/Boys, Women/Men and Technology: Enabling voices Social media, Internet blogging and GEwe;- Gender, media and identity; and - MIL and cultural competencies to advocate GEwe: A practical workshop for youths ( girls/boys and young women/men).
There are abstracts from this page http://unesco-ci.org/cmscore/gfgm-themes/media-and-information-literacy and the following articles gives an account of some of the sessions.
Ndlovo, S. (2013) Africa: Critical Audiences Have the Power Watch the Watchdogs. AllAfrica. 4 December. http://allafrica.com/stories/201312050541.html
My perception is that this is an area where there could be more thinking and development in identifying gender issues to do with information literacy (i.e. apart from issues to do with literacy and gender, the media and gender, or computer skills and gender; where there is more activity and literature).
The following page links to numerous publications relevant to the conference, for example Gender-sensitivity: a training manual for sensitizing education managers, curriculum and material developers and media professionals to gender concerns and Gender issues in the information society.http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/crosscutting-priorities/gender-and-media/global-forum-on-media-and-gender/publications/Photo by Sheila Webber: Christmas tree ornament, 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

I have included information encountering in my infrmation literacy classes for many years, as it is an information behaviour that I think it is important for people to reflect on. If (like me) you are a "super encounterer" it is important to adapt your information management practices. Therefore I was interetsted in this new (priced) article:
Stewart, K. and Basic, J. (2014) Information encountering and management in information literacy instruction of undergraduate students. International Journal of Information Management, 34 (2), 74–79. Abstract: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401213001321Photo by Sheila Webber: Christmas tree ornament, 2013

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Since I am still feeling poorly, I picked up on a health-related report from Pew Internet Research, published a month ago. The study surveyed 3,014 adults living in the United States, via landline phone or mobile phone, in August-September 2012. People who reported a chronic health condition and used the internet were "more likely than other online adults to: Gather information online about medical problems, treatments, and drugs.; Consult online reviews about drugs and other treatments.; Read or watch something online about someone else’s personal health experience."
They were also more likely to consult a doctor about the reliability of the information they had found. They used a wide range of sources (online and face to face), but mainly free ones. As in previous studies, they found that searches tended to start with search engines, and that many health searches were carried out on behalf of others. Those with chronic conditions were also more likely to be collecting information about their own health regularly (e.g. sleep patterns, blood pressure).

Additionally "People living with chronic conditions are significantly less likely than other adults to have internet access: 72%, compared with 89% of adults who report no chronic conditions." Although some of this can be attributed to the fact that those with chronic health problems tend to be older and less well educated, there was still a difference even when factors such as age, gender and education were factored into calculations.
Fox, S. and Duggan, M. (2013) The Diagnosis Difference. The Pew Internet & American Life Project. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/The-Diagnosis-Difference.aspxPhoto by Sheila Webber: mulberries on the the oldest mulberry tree in the UK (planted in teh 17th century) in Charlton Park, August 2013.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days. I am finishing the year with a nasty cold/flu - feeling dreadful for nearly a week now. Fortunately I'm not chief cook over Christmas! Anyway, starting to feel a little bit better, so here are slightly belated Christmas greetings to all blog readers!Photo: my 2013 Xmas wreath

The latest issue of the priced publication, Libri, Volume 63, Issue 4, December 2013, includes: Better Beginnings: Public Libraries Making Literacy Links with the Adult Community by Anderson, K. et al; Information Literacy Programmes in University Libraries: A Case Study by Baro, E., Seimode, F. and Godfrey, V. Abstracts can be seen at: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/libr.2013.63.issue-4/issue-files/libr.2013.63.issue-4.xmlPhoto by Sheila Webber: Dusk, December 2013

There is a first Call for Papers for the 2nd European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL), to be held 20-23 October 2014 in the Hotel Valamar Lacroma, Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is organized by the Department of Information and Communication Sciences of Zagreb University and Department of Information Management of Hacettepe University, Turkey. Information Literacy, Media Literacy and Lifelong Learning are the key foci and there is a long list of suggested topics. Proposals can be made for of several types of contributions; full papers, posters, PechaKucha, best practices, workshops, panels, invited talks, and a doctoral forum. Deadline for proposals is 16 March 2014.
The web page is at: http://ecil2014.org/
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ECIL2014Photo by Sheila Webber: Christmas tree, Firth Court, Sheffield University, December 2013

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

There is a call for papers for session Google is not enough: Reference and Information Services for the transfer of knowledge - reframing the discussion. This is organised by the Reference and Information Services Section of IFLA, and will take place as part of the World Library and Information (IFLA) Congress, 16-22 August 2014, in Lyon, France. This year the overall conference theme is: Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge.
"Highly engaging papers will approach the main themes with reference to case studies that illustrate best practices. During the two-hour session we hope to have between 4 and 6 speakers, presenting a paper in advance of the Congress – see important dates below - but also giving a 15 to 20 minute summary during the RISS Session." Topics include:
- The 21st century reference librarian: is she/he a human search engine or a partner in knowledge creation? What training and development is required to fulfill this role? What is not being addressed in library education?
- Is reference a form of activism? How does this relate to the social role of reference librarianship in the transfer of knowledge? How do reference services help people to do something, make something, or change something?
- How do public library reference services build individual and community assets? Examples for this topic could address how do these services strengthen civic engagement, or support multicultural societies or provide a community hub.
- Are reference services in your library about access (the delivery of answers) or about knowledge creation? How is this enacted in day-to-day services? Examples for topics could include: digital and mobile libraries and their use in service delivery/knowledge creation, remote reference services and support for the new kinds of learning environments, or delivery of essential services to support a knowledge driven economy.
- Reference without technology – the possibilities and perils. What will these services look like in 5 years? What sort of innovative reference work in non-technological environments is being done?

Proposals should include: Title of presentation, Abstract of no more than 500 words in English, Name, e-mail address, position (title) of presenter(s), plus a brief presenter(s) biography, Presenter(s) employer or affiliate institution
Please send your proposal for papers by email, headed IFLA RISS Papers, to both janeweller9@btinternet.com and marydee@xmission.com
Deadline for submitting proposals is 1st February 2014.Photo - cakes and fruit at our research group meeting today.

Monday, December 16, 2013

There is a free teachmeet meeting in Manchester, UK, at Manchester Metropolitan University Library on 22nd January 2014. Only a few presenter and audience tickets remaining! Details at http://goo.gl/25C83K

This report concentrated on students studying in Scotland. The researchers interviewed a slightly larger sample of students than the UK-wide study. Bizarrely (but why am I not surprised), despite the fact that they were both funded by QAA, the latest study does not appear to reference this earlier one.
Some similar points emerge (e.g. to do with contact with academic staff, and the need for support through transition), but some further interesting nuances were discovered, so it is definitely worth reading both reports.
The "want value for money" theme did not emerge as strongly in this 2009 report. The 2013 authors say that this theme emerged UK-wide (i.e. including in Scotland) but obviously there were far fewer Scottish-based students in their study, so it's difficult to say whether this is because of the worsening economic conditions between then and now, or because the (I imagine, I don't think it says) predominance of non-Scottish-based students brought the issue of fees more prominently into the data.

While I'm mentioning resources about higher education, there is a new Resource database with materials relating to teaching quality in Scottish universities: http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/resources . It includes reports, presentations, posters, videos etc. When I searched "information literacy" I just found 3 items, but one of them was a booklet pulling together key findings from the enhancement work of the QAA in Scotland by eminent educational researcher Dai Hounsell. "Communication and Information Literacy" (and it doesn't just mean IT literacy) is identified as a graduate attribute which has been adopted. "Across the Scottish higher education sector, the most prominent outcome of the work of the G21C Theme is a robust and well-articulated collaborative grasp - or understanding - of the attributes and qualities which are needed by the twenty-first century graduate."
Hounsell, D. (2011) Graduates for the 21st Century: Integrating the Enhancement Themes. QAA. http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/docs/publications/graduates-for-the-21st-century-institutional-activities.PDF?sfvrsn=34Photo by Sheila Webber: Glasgow Botanic Gardemns, Scotland, April 2006

Thursday, December 12, 2013

An interesting study has just been published, commissioned by the Quality Assurance Agency, which the body which has responsibility for (as the name implies) assuring the quality of teaching in higher education in the UK (through developing standards and guidelines and carrying out evaluations of teaching quality etc.). This report is is:
Kandiko, C. (2013) Student expectations and perceptions of higher education. London: King's Learning Institute. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/learningteaching/kli/research/student-experience/student-expectations-perceptions-HE.aspx
The aim was "to undertake research into student expectations and perceptions of the quality of their learning experience and the academic standards of their chosen programmes of study." The researchers undertook interviews and focus groups and analysed the data using a grounded theory and concept mapping approaches. Important themes were: a consumerist orientation, expecting value for money; wanting well-trained expert staff, good organisation and facilities, socialisation (including face to face time with teachers), and an employability focus.

There were issues around transition "It was common that students felt lost, unsure of what was expected of them and not sure of where to go for assistance in their transition to higher education." and this was really the only place where the value of information literacy could be inferred (it wasn't mentioned directly). One of the participant quotes was:
"‘I was not prepared for uni, let’s say in terms of how to actually learn…that was a massive, massive shock to me in terms of, you know, how to proactively go to the library and get all this information…I think I was maybe hoping for some more guidance in the first year maybe just so you kind of knew what you were doing was okay. [Second year, Male, International Politics, Research‐intensive institution]" (p64)

There are some useful recommendations about meeting student expectations better. However, I was a bit disappointed (though not surprised) that there wasn't something about challenging some of these assumptions and expectations (e.g. whether a learner gets value-for-money from their fees also depends on what he or she is willing to input in terms of motivation and interest in learning).

For those interested in these issues, another recent publication is focused on the Scottish Higher Education scene (there are differences in English and Scottish education e.g. the Scottish 4-year honours degree and different position on tuition fees)
Mayes, T. (2013) 10 years of the Scottish higher education Enhancement Themes 2003-13.http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/sheec/10-years-of-the-enhancement-themesPhoto by Sheila Webber: Greenwich Park, November 2013

A couple of interesting articles in a recent issue of open-access title College and Research Libraries.

- Latham, D. and Gross, M. (2013) Instructional Preferences of First-Year College Students with Below-Proficient Information Literacy Skills: A Focus Group Study. College and research libraries. 74 (5), 430-449.
They used focus groups, asking participants to describe their strategies with searches they were doing for their own interests, and searches they were doing for academic work, and also asked about teaching strategies that motivated and demotivated the participants and ways the library could encourage participation in IL education. I think the recommendations are applicable to all types of students, not just the "below proficient" ones.

- Gilstrap, D. (2013) Why Do We Teach? Adult Learning Theory in Professional Standards as a Basis for Curriculum Development. College and research libraries. 74 (5), 501-518.
Rather disturbingly, the finding of the North American study was that there was a negative correlation between knowledge of the ACRL information literacy standards and adult learning orientation. A stronger adult learning orientation correlated with more years of experience of teaching information literacy. The survey instrument, one that was developed several decades ago and has been used in numerous pieces of research, is designed to distinguish between an orientation (in educators) towards andragogy (adult learning approaches, what might be termed nowadays as a more constructivist approach to teaching at any level) and pedagogy, with "pedagogy" here meaning transmissive and directive approaches to teaching.Photo by Sheila Webber: golden beetroots, Farmers' market, November 2013

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Recordings of presentations from the online Library 2.013 conference (held this October) are available. There are loads of presentations, with some bias towards North America, but also numerous ones from other countries such as China, Australia and Hungary. To pick out some that sound IL-related:
- Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success (Kara Malenfant, Sr. Strategist for Special Initiatives - Association of College and Research Libraries, IL, USA)
- Incorporating Information Literacy into Instructional Designs of PreService Teachers (Dr. Lesley Farmer, Professor of Library Media - California State University Long Beach, CA, USA)
- Toolkit for Creating Student Presentations in the Online Classroom (Jean Bedord, Lecturer - School of Library and Information Science, San Jose State University, USA)
- Who's in the MOOD for M.O.O.C.s? (Ana Guthrie, Reference and Instruction Librarian (Nathan W. Collier Library, Florida Memorial University, FL, USA)
- Writing library instruction with mixed media (Sean Cordes, Associate Professor, Instruction Service Coordinator and Mahryah Carcncross, Instructor - Western Illinois University Libraries, USA)
Long list of sessions at: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/center-information-research-and-innovation-ciri/library-2013-worldwide-virtual-conference/presentationsPhoto by Sheila ebber: War memorial at sunset, Sheffield, December 2013

Monday, December 09, 2013

The latest meeting of the UNESCO General Conference voted in favour of the draft resolution on Media and Information Literacy that my colleagues on the IFLA Information Literacy Section Committee had been working on persistently through its various stages and drafts, with UNESCO staff. UNESCO is the social/educational arm of the United Nations. Member states are now being encouraged to endorse this at a national level (so, the lobbying needs to continue!) The resolution was submitted by the Philippines, with support from Croatia, Finland, Germany, Oman, Poland, and the Russian Federation. It is so nice not to have to infer information literacy from statements about IT or literacy or knowledge society etc. - there the phrase is, in the title of the resolution.

The terminology in these kinds of documents has to follow certain patterns. It starts with several statements, notably that
"Recognizing that the achievement of UNESCO’s vision of Knowledge Societies is dependent on moving beyond ICT infrastructure and access to building the capacity of all citizens to participate actively and effectively in emerging knowledge societies,"
....
"Recognizing that Media and Information Literacy is essential for lifelong learning and is a prerequisite for sustainable development,
"Further recognizing that Media and Information Literacy is a means for achieving the goal of universal and equitable access to information and knowledge,
"Commends IFLA for its efforts in developing the Media and Information Literacy Recommendations;
"Invites Member States to endorse the Media and Information Literacy Recommendations;
"Further invites Member States to take the Media and Information Literacy Recommendations into consideration during the planning of future strategies, policies, and initiatives on education, lifelong learning, literacy, and other areas which will contribute to building a Knowledge Society."

In the middle portion of the document, amongst other things it notes that:
"The IFLA Media and Information Literacy Recommendations can provide the vital foundation for ensuring that all citizens have the skills and capabilities to participate equitably in the Knowledge Societies by outlining actions for multi-stakeholder collaborations between governments, private sector and civil society organizations, librarians, educators and other stakeholders in developed and developing countries"

Then there are the recommendations themselves, which end with some bullet points:
"In particular IFLA recommends that governments and organisations to do the following:
• Commission research on the state of Media and Information Literacy and produce reports, using the Media and Information Literacy indicators as a base [I have blogged about this indicators initiative previously, it is still ongoing], so that experts, educators, and practitioners are able to design effective initiatives;
• Support professional development for education, library, information, archive, and health and human services personnel in the principles and practices of Media and Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning;
• Embed Media and Information Literacy education in all Lifelong Learning curricula;
• Recognise Media and Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning as key elements for the development of generic capabilities which must be demonstrated for accreditation of all education and training programmes;
• Include Media and Information Literacy in the core and continuing education of information professionals, educators, economic and government policy - makers and administrators, as well as in the practice of advisors to the business, industry and agriculture sectors;
• Implement Media and Information Literacy programmes to increase the employability and entrepreneurial capacities of women and disadvantaged groups, including migrants, the underemployed and the unemployed; and,
• Support thematic meetings which will facilitate the acquisition of Media and Information and Lifelong Learning strategies within specific regions, sectors, and population groups."

Sunday, December 08, 2013

Join us in the virtual world Second Life for a one-hour discussion of an open-access article. Led by Ewa Rozkosz (Documentation and Information Specialist , University of Lower Silesia, Wrocław, Poland, and Saba Pearl in Second Life) we will be discussing:
Doherty, J. J. & Ketchner, K. (2005). Empowering the Intentional Learner: A Critical Theory for Information Literacy Instruction. Library Philosophy and Practice, 8(1). Available at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/70/

Thursday, December 05, 2013

This is a report from the UK's Higher Education Academy, as part of a project Flexible Pedagogies: preparing for the future. "The report identifies six 'new pedagogical ideas' for the future of an increasingly flexible HE which offer new pathways for graduate attributes or capabilities" These are:
- learner empowerment;
- future-facing education (helping people "to consider prospects and hopes for the future across the globe and to anticipate, rethink and work towards alternative and preferred future scenarios");
- decolonising education ;
- transformative capabilities ("using pedagogies guided by engaged, ‘whole-person’ and transformative approaches to learning");
- crossing boundaries (e.g. inter-disciplinary;
- social learning. Flexible Pedagogies: new pedagogical ideas is at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/flexiblelearning/Flexiblepedagogies/new_ped_ideas/npi_report.pdfDiagram copyright Higher Education Academy, York, UK

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

There is a Call for Papers for the IFLA Information Literacy Section Satellite Meeting taking place in Limerick, Ireland, August 14-15 2014. The conference title is Facing the Future: Librarians and Information Literacy in a Changing Landscape. Main themes are: Information literacy and lifelong learning in a changing landscape; Information literacy - theoretical approaches (standards, assessment, collaboration, etc.); Success stories and best practices and Strategic planning, policy, and advocacy for media and information literacy in a digital age. Contributions can be: Full papers, Presentations, Roundtable discussions, Poster sessions, Train-the-trainers workshops, and PechaKucha presentations. Deadline for proposals is February 28 2014.
More information on the conference website: http://www.iflasatellitelimerick.comPhoto by Sheila Webber: old chestnut tree, Greenwich Park, November 2013

The 10th Annual Conference of the UK's Higher Education Academy is 2-3 July 2014 at Aston University, Birmingham, UK. The conference theme is Preparing for learning futures: the next ten years. "Change is fundamental to how we make sense of, work in and research, higher education (HE). HE is both conceived of as a catalyst for change (at a personal, societal and international level) and responds to ever-changing contexts cultural, technological, economic and political. The conference will focus on the future of the student learning experience and explore how we are preparing for it; it will look at how current policy and practice is (or is not) equipping us for the opportunities that lie ahead and what may need to be done to both adapt to and create new learning environments. The conference will also ask what the next ten years hold, what will change, what needs to change, and how can we prepare for that change." The strands are: the future is now; the future is connected; the future is global; the future is unwritten. The call for papers is open, closing 27 January 2014. More info at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/annual-conferencePhoto by Sheila Webber: view to Thames from Greenwich Park, late November 2013.

Information Literacy is ...

"the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society." (Webber and Johnston)